Kapitel 420: Fleeting Flavors
After seeing Pekoms and his unexpected traveling companion, Charlotte Praline, off safely, the Thousand Sunny itself set sail for less juicy waters.
Pudding was so bursting with joy that she was able to come along for the voyage that she insisted on making sweets for everyone, much to Luffy and Chopper's delight especially.
"I'll help you, Pudding-chan," Sanji offered.
"I-I-I don't need your help! … dear~" Pudding muttered at the end.
"Nonsense, we still have so much to learn from each other!" Sanji insisted, opening the door to the dining room and kitchen for her.
What Pudding heard instead was, "We have lots of time to get to know each other now, my sweet darling. Goodness, your eye is even more beautiful than when I first beheld it!"
Meanwhile, Sanji was plotting to make sure that Luffy didn't get any sweets at least for the rest of the day, which might as well be forever when it came to Luffy and food. 'That'll teach him to make a woman cry.'
Plus, he would get to spend time with Pudding-chan too! She didn't seem to like him that much, but he had high hopes that his cooking would warm her up to him.
A little while later, Pudding came out with a cart full of sweet treats and was so red in the face that someone who didn't know better might assume that she and Sanji were doing more than just cooking. The fact that Sanji was perfectly composed destroyed that notion in the minds of everyone who knew him, though.
Luffy attempted to charge over, but was intercepted by Sanji who held out a separate tray with a lid over it. "This one is yours, Luffy."
Luffy missed the edge in his tone, lifting the lid in his excitement and finding a thimble with plain ice cream within. Luffy deflated as he looked towards the assortment of desserts that Pudding was serving to everyone else, "I want some of-"
"You don't want my cooking, captain?" Sanji asked with a professional smile he used to wear before kicking an unruly customer's ass back when he worked on the Baratie. "And here I thought you came all this way to save me because my cooking was your favorite, but I understand…"
Cherry was the only one who overheard this exchange, and she struggled not to laugh out loud.
"But…" Luffy's eyes danced between the abysmal ice cream portion size, Pudding's creations being enjoyed by the rest of the group, and Sanji. He gulped, "Mm, I'll savor it…"
Sanji's smile became a bit more genuine. "Enjoy."
Luffy picked up the thimble between his thumb and index finger carefully, afraid that he might spill what little of it there was and upset the chef he fought so hard to bring back to his ship. Slowly, he brought the thimble to his mouth and slurped up the contents.
A wind dramatically caught Luffy and Luffy alone in the moment, blowing his hair back as his eyes widened in astonishment. The ice cream was only the most basic kind, lacking any additional flavors at all, not even vanilla. Yet it was the best ice cream that Luffy had ever tasted in his life; his mouth was exploding with a depth of deliciousness that defied logical explanation.
Then, it was gone without a trace. His instincts had guided him to swallow the food that entered his mouth as quickly as possible, something that Sanji knew would happen from the start.
"More!" Luffy cheered, holding the thimble aloft like it was a holy chalice.
"That's it, I'm afraid," Sanji said. "The milk and sugar I used was all that I had left from the second wedding cake, and frankly it took far too much effort to make such a small amount anyways. I'm glad that you're so satisfied."
"Ah, okay then," Luffy turned toward the dessert cart and found that it was empty. Everyone else was already enjoying what remained of Pudding's sweets.
He briefly considered stealing from one of the others, but that would be different than his thieving at the dinner table. It would be cruel, as Sanji always made enough for him at meals and no one would go without. Not to mention, it wasn't worth getting his ass kicked if he couldn't even fill his stomach.
So Luffy did the only reasonable thing he could do; sulk about it.
Sanji wore a satisfied smile; his revenge was truly a dish best served cold.
Once everyone finished with their desserts, Cherry stood up and stretched. "Whelp, I ought to be heading out now. I've got places to be and it's better to get it over with."
"Where are you going?" Luffy asked, perking his head up.
"I'm going to check out your hometowns in East Blue, make sure there aren't any Big Mom pirates lurking around. I do need some descriptions, preferably of people who own den den mushi to make it easier to find them," Cherry replied.
Many heads tilted to the side, and Cherry could almost see the question marks over their heads.
Nevertheless, Sanji described Zeff, Nami described Genzo the sheriff of her hometown, and Luffy described Makino who owned a bar at his. Brook and Jinbe didn't have anyone they really needed to worry about. Cherry already knew where to go with Chopper's Hometown, as well as Franky.
The odd one out was Zoro, who wasn't here to explain where he grew up nor could anyone present do so, unlike Usopp's hometown. They didn't even know if he had anyone in his hometown that he cared about since he didn't bring up the past in conversation.
He did have two old bounty hunting buddies they knew of, though, so Cherry would see if she could find them. Perhaps they would even know where Zoro was from.
"Alright, guys. Make sure the den den mushi is well fed and safe while I'm gone. Toodles~" Cherry's form swirled in white fire, disappearing in between the den den mushi's eyes, which shot open with a start and glanced around at the open mouthed crew in confusion.
Luffy bounced over to the den den mushi to study it closely, wondering what kind of trick this could be. "How did she fit inside there?"
Cherry's hand flashed outside and booped Luffy's nose before disappearing once more. The den den mushi gave a ghostly snicker before going back to sleep.
"I didn't know you could do that?" Chopper said.
"I'm pretty sure that you can't," Reiju said. She was the most dumbfounded of the group, having never witnessed something so ridiculous even whilst living as the daughter of a maniacal scientist and evil warlord.
"She just did, though," Nami said with a strange look on her face.
"Is she going to travel to East Blue through the den den mushi?" Pudding voiced the question that was at the forefront of her mind.
"That was what she implied," Jinbe said.
Pudding and Reiju were both struck by the implications of such a thing, and imagined how their respective parents would react if they learned about it. Both came to the conclusion that they would stop at nothing to acquire that power.
Kapitel 421: Where Does She Put It all?
"What do you MEAN you don't have any reservations available for today?! Do you have any idea who I am?!" a den den mushi with a pompous and very punchable face shouted in the face of a large upper bodied man with a goatee.
"My sincere apologies, dear customer!" the man by the name of Patty replied, wearing a servile smile on his face. "We have dinner reservations available tomorrow at our best table and we'll have our best wine waiting for you, if that would appease your sensibilities?"
"Fine, but I had better get a discount!" *clack* the angry customer on the other side hung up.
Patty's eye twitched. That bastard wanted a discount when he was getting the best service from the world's most professional chef?
Well, that was an easy enough problem to solve. He just had to give the valued customer the Baratie's 'special' menu with adjusted (increased) pricing, then give a small discount from there. The key to customer satisfaction was blissful ignorance!
Patty went back to his work and completely missed the ghostly white flame trickling out of the den den mushi and disappearing into the walls.
Cherry's form took shape on the small built-in dock of the Baratie, spooking a well-dressed and handsome man with a beautiful woman on each arm to the point of squealing. "G-g-g-g-g-ghost?!?!?!"
The pretty boy fell backwards onto his butt and scrambled along the dock to his yacht with tears and snot spilling down his face. The two women who were with him were so dumbfounded by the pretty boy's overreaction that they forgot to have a reaction for themselves.
Cherry ignored the fool and walked into the restaurant.
"Hmm, this is a pretty nice place. I had a completely different image of it in my head, considering that it's run by a former pirate," Cherry muttered as she took in the place properly.
"We don't really advertise that fact. It's something of an open secret," an older goldfish fishman in a fancy restaurant host's uniform smiled politely at her from behind a lectern with a reservation book on it. By the looks of him, Cherry would guess he was half human, probably. "May I ask if you have a reservation?"
"No reservation. That isn't a problem, is it?" Cherry asked. She reckoned she could try the food since she was here; see what kind of place Sanji grew up in with her own eyes.
"No problem at all, but it does mean we will have to sit you at a regular table," the host said.
"Sure. I don't want to sit near a bunch of stuffy pricks anyways," Cherry frowned as she spotted the personification of those words from across the room.
"Very good," the host said, leading Cherry to a small table relatively close to the kitchen door.
"I'll give you some time to-" the host said as he laid a menu on the table. Cherry interrupted him, "No need. Bring me one of everything."
"Yes," the host said without missing a beat. "Would you like your meal all at once or served in courses?"
"In courses is fine," Cherry said, waving the man away.
The host scurried into the kitchen, probably to inform the chefs about the atypical order rather than blindside them with a regular order ticket. He came back out shortly, bow lightly towards Cherry, before returning to his duties. Not that he had all that much to do. The restaurant was busy, but customers tended to come in batches aboard ships for a floating establishment like this.
Cherry was mildly surprised that she hadn't been recognised yet. Then again, she supposed that not everyone scoured the bounty posters that came with every issue of the World Economy News.
The first course came quickly. Plenty of dishes like soups, salads, and appetizers were just waiting to be served really, so that made sense. It was the sycophant she saw talking to a customer on the den den mushi as she slipped through.
"My dear scallywag, I do hope you have the money to pay for the food you've ordered… Hm?" Patty's face shifted from his impression of a professional smile into what was almost a scowl. "Aren't you one of Sanji's little friends?"
"I sure am! Do I get a friend's discount or something?" Cherry asked with a sweet smile.
"Sanji doesn't work here anymore, so no discount. Can you pay or not?" Patty sat down the salad and bowl of soup in his hands, then crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her.
Cherry placed a small gold bar on the table. Patty snatched it up, bit it to check if it was real, slid it into his apron pocket, and returned to his wide toothy smile in record time. Cherry wasn't sure that even Nami could whisk away money that quickly.
"Sanji's pals are always welcome at the Baratie! Er…" Patty scratched the back of his head as his eyes roamed as if in search of something in his brain. "What was your name again?"
"Harpin D. Cherry," Cherry found it pretty amusing to watch this man's roller coaster of expressions.
"Yeah, that rings a bell. Have at it, then," Patty disappeared back into the kitchen without another word.
Cherry spent the next hour or so tearing through dishes like it was a competition, and somehow managing to maintain her table manners at the same time. Patty was given quite the workout, rushing back and forth to bring new meals and return with emptied dishes. He cursed their menu for having far too many options.
The final dessert, a delectable banana pudding, wasn't brought out by Patty, but rather by the head chef; Zeff himself.
"You have quite the appetite for a woman your size," Zeff commented casually.
He hadn't really believed she could finish all the food. He thought that she planned to sample them all whilst leaving most of it uneaten, something he knew that Sanji wouldn't be agreeable to, even if she was pretty. He was surprised to find that every plate brought back to the kitchen to be cleaned was devoid of even the tiniest morsel.
"You learn how to pack it away when you get to eat Sanji's cooking everyday. You learn how to do it quickly when you have Luffy trying to sneak it away from you," Cherry said.
She consumed the banana pudding with such haste, you might think it was the first thing she had eaten in a month rather than the tail end of an eighty course meal. Zeff watched as a mysterious power gathered the last remnants of the pudding into her spoon before she popped it into her smiling mouth with a hum of pleasure. He felt a bit silly for imagining that she licked the plates clean, before.
"Is that so?" Zeff smiled. "Why are you all the way in East Blue, though? It's a long way to come from the second half of the Grand Line."
"It isn't that long a way for me. I just came to make sure there weren't any Big Mom pirates skulking about after a recent tussle we had with them," Cherry said, patting her stomach with a sigh.
Zeff looked around quickly, making sure nobody else heard that. "You lot are already poking around the lairs of those old monsters?"
"Hehehe, sure that's one way to put it~" Cherry chuckled, knowing what was likely to be in the newspaper in a few days.
Zeff wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
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